July Update

First, an explanation for the environmental report on the polluted beaches. It appears that it was just Sonoran state officials being (take your pick:)stupid, incompetent, lazy. The state is in charge of testing the coastal waters and reporting the results to the federal agency. Apparently the state's testing came up with bad numbers. Off the charts. Ten thousand times higher than normal. Instead of questioning these numbers and double checking the methods or results, they just sent them in to the federal authorities who then published them and advised that the beaches should be closed. After the reports made headlines in the newspapers the state health officials cried foul and showed that all previous tests and subsequent tests showed that the beaches were very clean, that there had to have been something wrong in the testing procedure. Why didn't the health officials question the numbers before sending them to the feds?

Anyway, as to more important things - we had wind ! Wednesday and Saturday it blew out of the northwest up to 22 knots. Very unusual for us to get wind out of that direction this time of year. Usually all we get are southerlies, which are never as nice. So we had a couple of really good days which felt great because it has been an unusually non-windy summer so far. Non-windy enough that I am taking off this week to go to Cabarete, in the Dominican Republic.

And, speaking of unusual things, there was a parade and party on the beach on July 5th. It was a cross dress affair. I was told a story behind this event. Apparently five years ago a group of people new to the area read about a transvestite show in Guaymas and decided to dress the part and go. The show never happened that night, and not only were they the only gringos at the bar, they were they only people in drag. They had a great time and decided to do something similar every year. They live in the subdivision, Costa del Mar, and recruit neighbors and friends to participate. The theme changes a bit from year to year and seems to make for a great excuse to party on the beach.